Tigresses pick win No. 3 versus Pirates

MANILA, Philippines - University of Santo Tomas streaked to its third straight victory in the Shakey’s V-League Season 6 second conference, fashioning out a straight-set 25-20, 25-21, 25-19 triumph over Lyceum to firm up its hold of the lead at the Blue Eagle gym late Friday.

Angeli Tabaquero delivered the lone double-digit output for the Tigresses - 12 points - but it was enough to ensure the win for the España-based squad as the rest played just good enough to thwart the Lady Pirates’ challenge.

Lyceum actually kept the game close in each of the set in their one-hour, nine-minute encounter but just couldn’t unsettle UST’s offensive thrust and fell to their second straight defeat in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

With a 3-0 mark, UST is on its way to another stint in the quarterfinals, and hopefully, in the Final Four before going for a sweep of the season’s two conferences.

The Tigresses seek to stretch their win run to four as they plunge back into action today against the UP Maroons, a team still trying to put up together a solid game after dropping its first three matches in the tournament organized by Sports Vision and backed by Accel, Mikasa, Mighty Bond and OraCare.

Gametime is at 2 p.m. with action back at The Arena in San Juan.

Adamson, the other team on the rise following back-to-back victories after an opening game loss, battles Far Eastern U at 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, games can be viewed live on webcast on www.v-league.ph and on a delayed telecast on NBN-4. The UST-Lyceum duel will be aired at 2 p.m. today.

Lyceum actually had two players scoring in double figures, Joy Cases (17) and Jamie Peña (15). But skipper Syvie Artates struggled for just six and Nica Guliman and Christiana Casanova could only come up with three points apiece.

In contrast, Tabaquero drew solid backup from the rest of the Tigresses with Maika Ortiz chipping in nine points, including seven attacks, and skipper and the league’s current scoring leader Aiza Maizo adding seven points.

Rhea Dimaculangan and Denise Santiago had six points apiece while rookie Maruja Banaticla, Hanna Mance and guest player Roxanne Pimentel combined for 11 points. -- end it//thanks